


One Last Bit of Beauty

by PhoenixFalls



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Declarations Of Love, F/F, Future Fic, Scarification
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-05-05 14:56:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5379332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixFalls/pseuds/PhoenixFalls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Over the years, when she had pictured this moment, Natasha had imagined it happening under softer lighting, perhaps even by firelight. She had imagined being laid gently on a pile of blankets, had pictured Melinda using the combat knife she always kept at her hip. For all that she had seen, all that she had done, Natasha was a romantic still.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Last Bit of Beauty

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt "[Melinda/Natasha, scarification](http://femslash-kink.dreamwidth.org/15813.html?thread=2473669)" at [The Annual Femslash Kinkmeme](https://femslash-kink.dreamwidth.org/15813.html).

“You’re sure.”

No longer a question, just one last check-in before Melinda began the work. Natasha took a deep breath and answered solemnly. “Yes.”

Over the years, when she had pictured this moment, Natasha had imagined it happening under softer lighting, perhaps even by firelight. She had imagined being laid gently on a pile of blankets, had pictured Melinda using the combat knife she always kept at her hip. For all that she had seen, all that she had done, Natasha was a romantic still.

But she was not the sort to prioritize romance over results, so instead Natasha was on a tabletop under harsh but steady (and strong) artificial lights, and Melinda was holding a scalpel. She would have to live with what Melinda’s hand wrought here, after all, and there would be no do-overs.

Melinda made one last pass with the alcohol wipes, then began to cut.

No numbing agent, and Natasha refused to use the torture-resistance techniques she had been taught to block out the pain. She wanted to feel this.

She kept her eyes steady on Melinda’s face, tense with concentration and so dear. The slice of the knife through the thin skin over her breastbone was painstaking, short straight lines in a pattern Natasha could make no sense of. She had left the design entirely in Melinda’s hands.

An eternity and no time later, Melinda stood back and began the process of cleaning Natasha up. The alcohol stung, perhaps even more than the cutting had, but Natasha just breathed gently through it. Then Melinda held up the mirror so Natasha could examine the results.

Natasha had only a rudimentary literacy in Chinese, and with the mirror’s reversal it took her several minutes to try and puzzle out what Melinda had marked her with. Melinda waited patiently, expressionless as she only was when she was unsure.

Finally it clicked. “ _Meihua_ – plum blossom?”

“ _When everything has faded they alone shine forth / encroaching on the charms of smaller gardens. / Their scattered shadows fall lightly on clear water / their subtle scent pervades the moonlit dusk._ ” Melinda’s voice was soft, resonant. “They’re a symbol of perseverance, of hope for spring in the darkest of winter.” Melinda met her eyes for the first time since she brought out the scalpel. “You said you wanted my mark, and it’s there—“ she touched next to the first character – “but Natasha, this is you, to me. A sweetness on the air amidst the ice, one last bit of beauty in the waste. Fragile-seeming, but strong enough to withstand any hardship.”

Natasha had to look away, chest tight, and not from the still-welling cuts. Apparently Melinda was secretly a romantic too.

Now that she had hung her uniform up at last, Natasha’s skin was her own for perhaps the first time. She had asked – begged – Melinda to lay claim to it, to mark her for the world to see. It was just like Mel to do exactly as she asked and yet try and give Natasha back herself at the same time.

**Author's Note:**

> The lines Melinda recites are from the poem "山園小梅 - How Plum Flowers Embarrass a Garden" by 林逋 Lin Bu, translated by Red Pine/Bill Porter.


End file.
